Charmed Λc⁺ baryon decays into light scalar mesons in the topological SU(3)f framework

A bstract Using the topological-diagram approach based on SU(3) flavor symmetry, we investigate two-body Λc⁺→ BS Λ c + → B S decays, where B denotes the final-state baryon and S refers to a light scalar meson, such as f 0 / f 0 (980), a 0 / a 0 (980), σ 0 / f 0 (500), or κ /K₀(700) κ / K 0 ∗ 700 . Our analysis indicates that interpreting the light scalar mesons as tetraquark states provides a more consistent description of the currently available experimental data. In particular, this framework naturally accommodates the experimentally observed branching fraction B(Λc⁺→ Λ a₀⁺) B Λ c + → Λ a 0 + , which exceeds predictions based solely on long-distance effects by an order of magnitude. Within the tetraquark scenario, we predict B(Λc⁺→ Σ⁺f₀)=(4.9± 1.9)× 10⁻² B Λ c + → Σ + f 0 = 4.9 ± 1.9 × 10 − 2 and B(Λc⁺→ pf₀)=(3.6± 1.4)× 10⁻³ B Λ c + → p f 0 = 3.6 ± 1.4 × 10 − 3 . Owing to f 0 − σ 0 mixing, B(Λc⁺→ Σ⁺σ₀) B Λ c + → Σ + σ 0 and <jats:tex-